A Practical Guide to the Frequency and Intensity of Fitness Exercises and Aerobic Exercise

Regarding frequency: Cardiologists recommend exercising at least three times a week to allow the body to adapt and maximize health benefits. If you enjoy exercise and recover quickly, then daily vigorous exercise will be even more beneficial. Such exercise should be varied to avoid injury and should include activities beneficial to various parts of the body, such as cardiorespiratory endurance, muscle strength, muscle endurance, flexibility, and body composition. Regarding duration: Each workout should last at least 20-30 minutes, not including warm-up and cool-down time. However, you must gradually reach this duration. Regarding exercise intensity: Many people set unrealistically high goals when starting to exercise without realizing it. Initially, excessive exercise may not feel uncomfortable, but then injuries from overexertion leave the body unable to adapt, eventually forcing them to give up. Exercise is a lifelong endeavor; you have ample time to develop an exercise habit. In the first few weeks or months, avoid exercising for full hours or running 3 miles. Avoid injury, adapt gradually, and exercise under the guidance of good fitness books or professionals. Once you establish a regular exercise routine, you should aim for a sufficient intensity to reach your target heart rate (THR) that aligns with your age and healthy fitness level. At this target heart rate, blood supply allows muscles to utilize oxygen more efficiently for energy. To calculate your target heart rate, subtract your age from 220 to get your maximum heart rate (MHR). Then, depending on your physical condition, multiply this by 50%, 60%, 70%, or 80% to arrive at your target heart rate. For example, a 40-year-old might start exercising at 60% of their maximum heart rate and gradually increase it to 80%. For instance: 220 - 40 = 180 MHR × 0.60 = 108 beats per minute. Calculate your target heart rate and gradually reach the new target heart rate: 220 - 40 = 180 MHR × 0.80 = 144 beats per minute. Exercising at 90-100% of your maximum heart rate is extremely dangerous and offers no benefit to most people, requiring a long recovery time. You can benefit your health by exercising at "half speed," which means your heart rate is 50-70% of your maximum heart rate. Studies show that swimmers should aim for a lower heart rate, calculated by subtracting their age from 205, because the heart pumps more blood with each beat when prone. During strenuous exercise, check your pulse several times, counting your pulses over 10 seconds. Calculate your desired heart rate by dividing your desired heart rate per minute by 6. An easy way to determine if you're overtraining is the "talk test," which is closely related to heart rate. If you can't easily talk during exercise or don't recover within 10 minutes afterward, you should slow down. For runners, "How intense am I exercising?" is often misunderstood as "How far should I run?" Experts have always maintained that distance isn't important. For cardiovascular health, everyone should run at least 15 miles per week, which is four times a week for 20-30 minutes each time. Exercise is best measured by intensity and duration, not distance. Whether running, swimming, or participating in other activities, the following indicates overtraining and the intensity should be reduced: feeling pain. Nausea, dizziness, or fainting. Your heart rate may not return to normal for several minutes after exercise. To achieve optimal physical and mental benefits, your exercise plan should safely enhance cardiovascular function, endurance, muscle strength, flexibility, and agility. Cardiovascular function is the most important and is best improved through aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise refers to exercises that enhance the function of the heart, lungs, and blood vessels, enabling muscles to maintain a sufficient supply of oxygen for extended periods. These exercises have become increasingly popular in recent years. Cross-country skiing, hiking, running, cycling, and swimming are all excellent aerobic exercises that work the heart, lungs, and the whole body. Other activities that steadily increase the heart rate to the desired level and exercise major muscle groups include skipping rope, climbing stairs, running in place, step walking, riding an exercise bike, and rowing. When you engage in intense exercise, your body is unaware of what kind of exercise activity you are doing. Unfortunately, many popular sports do not improve cardiovascular health, such as fishing, camping, hunting, rowing, bowling, weight training, golf, softball, rugby, and volleyball, because these sports involve intermittent activity and do not enhance cardiopulmonary function. While tennis is an aerobic exercise, it can easily become an occasional activity. Similarly, sports that improve cardiovascular function include: highly stimulating activities like paragliding, skydiving, and diving; mechanical activities like motorcycling and snowmobiling; and even gentle walking and leisurely cycling. As the President's Health and Fitness Advisor stated, "Make exercise a pastime, not a pastime for fitness." Aerobic exercise refers to the process of transporting and consuming oxygen throughout the body; therefore, aerobic exercise ensures that each heartbeat pumps more oxygen into the blood, allowing muscles and tissues to work more efficiently. In good health, the heart functions more efficiently and strongly, thus lowering the heart rate. Furthermore, aerobic exercise deepens breathing, engaging all lungs, not just the upper lungs. Fast swimming and other sprinting sports require intense bursts of energy and are considered anaerobic exercises because the cardiovascular system cannot supply the energy needed by the muscles. After a few minutes of such exercise, the body enters a state of oxygen deficiency. As an alternative energy source, it breaks down glycogen in the muscles under hypoxic conditions (glycolysis), leading to lactic acid buildup, causing pain, a burning sensation, and a feeling of being unable to continue. If you continue exercising at this point, the entire body begins aerobic metabolism, producing a stable energy source. Untrained individuals may take more than ten minutes to recover from rapid breathing and begin aerobic metabolism, which explains why exercise feels uncomfortable at the beginning. Well-trained athletes begin aerobic metabolism one or two minutes after warming up. World-class marathon runners deliver enough oxygen to their muscles to maintain aerobic metabolism. The best aerobic exercise is cross-country skiing, which requires the participation of all muscles. For a long time, running has been the most popular aerobic exercise in the United States; it is indeed the most convenient and inexpensive exercise. In the United States, approximately 10 million people swim. While it takes a relatively long time to reach an aerobic state, it's excellent for conditioning the body because it engages both small upper limb muscles and large lower limb muscles. Compared to other sports, swimming is less likely to cause injury and is one of the best forms of exercise during the recovery period for knee and other injuries. Another excellent aerobic exercise is cycling, which should be continuous, even downhill. Cycling on a stationary bike indoors is also an excellent workout. For beginners, the best aerobic exercise is easy walking. People with joint problems, obesity, or those over 60 can achieve their desired heart rate by walking at least five times a week for half an hour each time. Jumping rope is also effective, but it's difficult for many to reach an aerobic state because it's hard to jump continuously for 20 minutes. To get into an aerobic state, you can jump rope for one minute, then do one minute of stepping, arm swinging, or other low-intensity exercises, and then jump rope again, alternating between these for about 20 minutes. While aerobic exercise is important, a balanced approach to exercise is even more crucial. Runners need to lift weights to strengthen their upper body, while swimmers should run or cycle to strengthen their lower body and improve their aerobic endurance.

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